'Volcano of Discontent' Parents Push School Board To Add Suspension of High Stakes Testing To Legislative Agenda

The Greater Consortium of Florida School Boards has voted unanimously to include a main plank in their legislative agenda to suspend high stakes testing.

With parent animosity toward Common Core and high-stakes testing growing, school board meetings are now one of the “hot” spots to go in small towns and cities across the country, and this is especially true in West Palm Beach, Florida where anti-Common Core activist Chris Quackenbush said parents have become a “volcano of discontent.”

advertisement

In an email report to Breitbart News, Quackenbush, of Florida Citizens Alliance and Stop Common Core Florida, said Friday’s meeting of The Greater Consortium of Florida School Boards was particularly “hot” as “pressure mounts against the maniacal testing demands which come with Common Core.”

The Consortium consists of 11 school boards, representing 42 percent of the K-12 children in Florida, that join together for the purpose of lobbying the state government.

“News this week included hundreds of new tests to be administered, costing each district millions and crowding out precious learning time,” she wrote. “Schools have gone so far as to end recess in K-6 so that more time can be spent testing.”

In Lee County, the school board voted to “Opt Out” of state mandated testing completely.

“Hundreds of parents jammed into the board meeting wearing red in solidarity and gave passionate testimony about the disastrous effects of Common Core and high stakes testing,” wrote Quackenbush. “Now, the rebellion has swelled and the Consortium voted unanimously to include a main plank in their legislative agenda to ‘suspend high stakes testing.'”

Quackenbush added that this will be confirmed by a vote in each school district of the Consortium and will be used as a lobbying platform.

Describing the move as “stunning,” she explained that all districts must agree on issues in the platform, a requirement that usually results in only non-controversial proposals rather than bold demands.

Karen Brill, president of the Consortium, said the motion may serve as a model for future change at the state level, according to News-Press.

“I think what we showed to them is that we’re really all saying the same things but in different ways,” Brill added. “We’re showing the Legislature that they can do it because we’re just as diverse as they are.”